10 women from Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur to head NCW-Airbnb project in Northeast

In an effort to bring financial empowerment of women in Northeast states, 10 women from Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur would be selected to pilot a project with online accommodation platform Airbnb, according to official sources.

The project aims to generate technology-enabled livelihood opportunities in tourism and hospitality, according to the National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma.

The 10 women would be chosen by the state commissions and trained by Airbnb in the tourism and hospitality services, she said, adding, NCW and Airbnb will work towards expansion of homestay tourism facility in rural homes in the Northeastern states through women commissions.

“The aim of the partnership is to create women micro-entrepreneurs and help families supplement their income through home-sharing on a global platform,” Sharma said.

The decision came after a meeting with the representatives from the three states and Airbnb which was held recently.

“There was a meeting last week with the representatives from the three states and Airbnb for taking the project forward and within a week the state commissions would be sending names of the 10 women from Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur who would be piloting the project,” Sharma said.

Highlighting the project objective to enable financial empowerment of women to contribute to the overall development of local communities in the region, Sharma said the project would cover other states as well.

“The objective of the project is to enable financial empowerment of women who could contribute to the overall development of local communities in the region. We will gradually cover other states under the programme too,” the NCW chairperson added.

Earlier, Airbnb Global Head of Policy Chris Lehane said in a statement that India’s Northeast, with its immense tourism potential, was a priority market for Airbnb and “we are very excited about the partnership with the National Commission for Women”.